Authorities said whiteout conditions from a storm that generated heavy lake-effect snow created the conditions for the massive pileup.

"It was such a devastating scene," Cool Springs Volunteer Fire Department chief Mick Pawlik told the Chicago Tribune. "It'll live with us forever."

Jerry Dalrymple, 65, of Chicago, was pronounced dead at the scene while his 7-year-old black Labrador died as well, wrote the Tribune. Authorities said they believed Dalrymple, who worked for Federal Home Loan Bank in Chicago, died from blunt force trauma from the accident.

Grand Rapids, Mich., couple Marilyn J. Wolma, 65, and Thomas D. Wolma, 67, also died in the pileup. The Wolmas were returning from Wisconsin after caring for an ill relative, LaPorte County Coroner John Sullivan told the Tribune.

"Lucky we didn't have 10 more, you know, from looking at it?" Sullivan told the Tribune. "Thank God we didn’t have any more."